Two Happier People
by HeidiBug731
Summary: Takes place during DH. Remus comes home after the full moon and stands by his son's crib, reflecting over the journey he's taken to get here and just how very happy it's made him.


This story is the result of a few things. One, because, well, they _died_ and I just _needed_ to write _something._ Two, because I'm tired of trying to explain to people who think Remus was out of character during DH that he's never been more_ in_ character. And I'm tired of trying to explain to people who are completely unconvinced of Remus's love for Tonks that he _did _love her. And three, because I was thinking that Teddy was a little over a month old when the Hogwarts battle took place, so that means there had to be a full moon in there somewhere.

And voila! Story!

And I'd also like to take the time to officially apologize to everyone I've ever yelled at for using the nickname "Dora" for Tonks. My problem with it previously was that it just wasn't cannon. But it's cannon now, so call her Dora all you want.

* * *

Remus entered the house. He felt worn and fatigued, as he usually did after a transformation. Dora had left a cane by the door for him, but he bypassed it, leaning against the wall for support as he walked.

Previously, when he'd come home after the full moon, he would head straight for their bedroom where he'd collapse next to her and that would be the end of it. But things were a little different in the Lupin household now.

He went to his son's room instead. He staggered slightly as he made his way over to the crib. Folding his arms over the railing, he gazed down at the sleeping form of his son. For a long while, he just stood there and looked at him, not thinking about anything in particular, just marveling over how such a tiny thing could bring so much joy.

"There you are," said a voice.

He turned his head to see Tonks walking toward him, dressed in her nightgown, her hair her usual pink. He smiled at her.

She returned the smile and came over to stand next to him. "He's such an angel, isn't he?" she said as she gazed at their son.

"Yeah," he agreed.

She turned to him then and carefully looked him up and down. At length she said, "You wouldn't be standing right now if you didn't have that rail to lean on, would you?"

He smiled again, but his eyes never left Teddy. "No, I don't think I would be."

"I see you opted not to use the cane again - and don't tell me you didn't see it, Remus. It was in plain view. I made sure of it."

He didn't reply right away. "It makes me feel old," he admitted. Almost immediately, he wished he'd said something different, something that explained what he had meant by "old" because he knew what her retort was going to be before she even said it.

"Oh," she said, laughter lighting up her face. "And this coming from the man who told me he was too old, too poor, and too dangerous for me."

He turned his head to look at her this time. "You're never going to forgive me for that, are you?"

"Oh, that?" She waved her hand. "No, I'm just going to tease you about it for the rest of your life. Now, nearly walking out on me and Teddy, that I'll never forgive you for - God, Remus - I was joking!" she added hastily when she saw the anguished look that crossed his face. She reached out and placed a hand on his arm. "I forgave you for that _months_ ago. We talked about that. I-" She gave a great sigh. "You, quite honestly, quilt trip yourself more than anybody else on the planet."

He laughed at that, a great hardy laugh, which he quickly stifled with his hand because he was worried he'd wake Teddy. But the baby did not stir. He simply smiled in his sleep, as though he couldn't be happier to hear his father's laugh.

"You see," she told him, pointing at Teddy. "Right there. If you'd woken him up, you'd have been all '_I woke the baby! Ahhhhh!_'" She raised her hands to the side of her head and shook them dramatically.

He laughed through his nose. "I don't act like that."

"You do," she told him. "You definitely do. Or least, you did."

He looked at her inquisitively.

"Well," she said simply. "You're happy now - No, don't deny it," she said, holding up a hand when he opened his mouth to protest. "If I had asked you . . . not during the week of our wedding . . . maybe not during the week after our wedding . . . but if I had asked you the week when all this crazy stuff started happening - the Death Eaters, the baby - if I had asked you then if you were happy, you would have said no."

"I wouldn't have said-"

"You wouldn't have _said_ no," she corrected herself. "Not to my face. But 'no' would have been your answer."

He frowned as he thought about that. He didn't want to admit to her that she was right.

She raised her hands to the side of her head again. "_I've made you an outcast! Ahhhhh!_"

He laughed for the second time, but there was something unsettling about her impersonations of him.

She moved back over to the crib.

"Maybe I do act like that," he told her. "A little."

She rolled her eyes. "_I'm ruining your life! You'd be better off without me! Ahhhhh!_"

"That's enough," he said, laughing once more as he pulled her hand down. "Seriously."

After a moment's silence, she nudged him gently with her elbow. "But you're happy now," she said, picking back up on the track where they had left off. "If I were to ask, at any time from the moment Ted was born to now, if you were happy-"

"I'd say yes," he told her, turning from her to stare down at their son once again.

"And you'd mean it," she added.

He gripped the railing tightly, the true meaning of his next words filling him with emotion that he had to fight to hold back. "Dora," he said. "I can honestly say . . . that I've never been happier in my entire life."

She smiled softly and touched his arm again.

"I want to thank you," he whispered.

She was taken aback. "For what?"

"Everything," he said. "For everything you've done for me, for everything you've meant to me." He paused. "I didn't think I could ever have this. I'd told myself long ago that I was never going to get married and that I was never going to have a family. I'd been telling myself that for years and then . . . you came along." He nodded at her. "I just couldn't believe that someone would be interested in me in that way. You were a kind of hope for me."

He paused again. "But I didn't want to hope," he told her. "I didn't want to let myself believe that maybe it could happen. I pushed you away because I was certain it would all come crashing down around me if I let it continue. I had all these voices in my head telling me over and over again that it could just never happen."

It seemed like he'd been holding this in for a while, like he had to get it all out now that he'd started. So, she didn't interrupt him as he talked.

"And then there was a moment when I told the voices to go take a hike, and we got married, and I _was_ happy, Dora. I was very happy. But then you came back on that Portkey with Ron and you said Bellatrix was after you, and I just knew it was because of me. She wanted you because you'd gone and married me.

"And then you said we were going to have a baby, and I panicked. The Death Eaters were already after you because of me, how many more lives could I ruin? You're right," he said suddenly. "I _do_ act like that!"

She stifled a laugh.

"So I was going to leave you and Ted," he continued. "I didn't _want _to, but I thought it was the right thing to do. And then Harry gave me a verbal slapping across the face, and I chose to come back and . . . and . . ." He seemed to be struggling with something. "I have a _wife_ and a _son_," he said wondrously. "Two things in the world I thought I would _never_ have . . ." His eyes took in the sleeping boy beneath him. "Dora, this has just been so _perfect_ . . . so _wonderful_ . . . like something out of a dream . . ."

He gripped the railing tighter still. "I can't even begin to tell you how immeasurably happy I am."

She saw the tears swimming in his eyes. "Oh, Remus." And she took him into her arms.

"I love you," he told her, holding her as tightly as he could, as though he hoped that if he held her tight enough, then maybe, just maybe, she'd understand how much he had always loved her, even during the times when it had seemed like he hadn't. His voice shook with emotion. "I love you so much."

"I love you too," she said.

They stood like that for a long while.

At length, he let go of her, taking a moment to kiss her gently. And then he leaned over the railing of the crib and kissed his turquoise haired son on the cheek.

"I love you too, Teddy," he whispered. "Very much."

He let her lead him out of Teddy's room and into their own room where he collapsed onto the bed in his usual fashion. She crawled under the covers and came up behind him to wrap her arms around him.

He made a soft hissing sound. "Your feet are cool."

"Sorry," she said, immediately moving her feet away from him. "You know, maybe they wouldn't be so cold if you didn't hog the covers all the time." She tugged on the sheets he had wrapped around him until she got the desired length she was after.

He smiled, though she couldn't see it, and playfully tugged the sheets back from her. "Wear socks to bed," he said.

He waited a few moments under her half amused, half annoyed stare before giving the sheets back to her. After a minute or two, he could sense her hovering over him.

"Remus?"

He rolled onto his back and opened his eyes to stare up at her questionably.

"Right now," she said. "At this very moment . . . are you happy?"

He smiled up at the woman who had given him everything he had thought he could never have: hope, love, joy, peace, family . . . and so much more. He found the strength to reach out and pull her to him, and then he kissed her as passionately as he could.

"What was that word I used earlier?" he asked when they'd parted, his eyes half closed.

She thought for a moment. "Immeasurably?"

"That's the one," he said. "Immeasurably happy." He closed his eyes.

She kissed him on the tip of his nose before settling herself under the covers and closing her eyes as well.

They fell asleep in each other's arms . . .

And you couldn't have found two happier people in the world.


End file.
